Longtime Television Journalist Roger Mudd Dead at 93

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Longtime television journalist Roger Mudd, who once served as an anchor for CBS and NBC, has died. He was 93.

Mudd died on Tuesday of complications from kidney failure at his home in McLean, Virginia, his son, Jonathan Mudd, told The Washington Post.

Born on Feb. 9, 1928, Mudd first began his journalism career in the 1950s, per The Hill, before later making a name for himself at CBS News. He spent 20 years covering various political stories while also serving as the weekend anchor for CBS Evening News, sometimes filling in for fellow anchor Walter Cronkite on weeknight broadcasts.

In 1980, Mudd left CBS for rival network NBC, where he would go on to co-anchor NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, in addition to American Almanac and 1986. He also served as co-moderator of Meet the Press.

Later in life, Mudd also became an essayist and correspondent for PBS' The MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour and the host of various programs for The History Channel, per The Hollywood Reporter.

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Mudd is most commonly remembered for an award-winning 1979 interview he conducted with then-presidential candidate, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who was running for the Democratic nomination against Jimmy Carter.

The journalist simply asked the politician, "Why do you want to be president?" which appeared to catch Kennedy off guard as he came up with an unpolished response. The interview would later win Mudd a Peabody Award, according to The New York Times.

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"All of us at A+E Networks mourn the loss of Roger Mudd," said network president Paul Buccieri in a statement provided to PEOPLE. "Roger was our first on-air anchor in the early days of The HISTORY Channel. We will be forever grateful for his leadership and enormous contributions which helped build The HISTORY Channel brand."

The statement continued: "He had a remarkable, award-winning career in television and we are very proud to be a part of his legacy. Our deepest sympathies are with his family."

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"He was a journalist of enormous integrity and character. He would not budge if he believed he was right and would not compromise his ethical standards," CBS News President Susan Zirinsky said in a statement about Mudd to CNN.

In a written statement to the outlet, Mudd's family also added: "Roger loved and collected books, read good, old-fashioned newspapers, front to back, every morning of his life, and watched the evening news as much as he could stand."

Mudd and his wife of 53 years, Emma Jeanne "E.J." Spears, lived for many years in McLean, the Post reported, before her death in 2011.

Mudd is survived by his four children, as well as 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, the outlet said.